You Belong to Me
by janedra
Summary: Danny is defenseless when it comes to some things in his life- like hunger, lack-of-sleep, and Dr. Mindy Lahiri. This is what happens one day when the tables are turned and he figures out how to gain the upper-hand, only to use it in the most delicious ways. M for later chapters.
1. Here Comes The Sun

1. Here Comes The Sun.

4:28 am

"Son of a bitch." mumbled Danny. It had been exactly three minutes since the last time he rolled over to look at the clock. He ground the heels of his hands into his closed eyes and let out a frustrated groan.

This could not be happening again.

The bout of insomnia that had hit him a few years ago similarly caught him off guard. He had always been the guy who could fall asleep anywhere- the subway, leaning on the railing of his fire escape, on the floor of his dry cleaners (that had been awkward to wake up to, but- you shout, you ring the bell- then you hunker down and try to have some patience, like a man). It was a trait that had proven to be essential during his residency and in general in his role as a delivery doctor. But after weeks of a slowly-eroding sleep-schedule, he had prescribed for himself what any doctor would- upped his exercise regime, cut back on coffee, and tried to eliminate... stress. He hated the word. It was one that whiney people used a lot, and for a long time he felt like the only people using it should be combat veterans or Scotch-Irish mothers trying to raise eight boys in The Rockaways; the two types of people who would use it responsibly, or not at all.

But he had to admit that, back then, the dissolution of his marriage had been a pretty huge stressor. The kind that clings to you physically for weeks like an angry virus before you realize that maybe the reason you just repeatedly punched the pizza box into the too-small trashcan in the on-call room had less to do with the inadequate receptacle and more to do with your need to just... punch something. That, and the fact that this revelation only struck him when he suddenly found himself yelling at Doris about the relative size of the trashcan and the likelihood of physicians ordering pizza in a hospital... and he saw tears in her eyes. Doris. The woman who he suspected tucked the blanket over him in-between early-morning deliveries. Who raised eight boys in The Rockaways on a hospital custodian's salary and who had him beat by at least two decades on the lifetime number of Springsteen shows she had attended. A woman who not only didn't deserve to be yelled at, but who also deserved all the waffles she could eat after her shift- at Carlo's around the corner.

Which is where she gave him the advice he had needed for all those weeks- "Get home to see your ma, and get to mass." And that's exactly what he did. Instead of going home and not sleeping, he rode the ferry out to Staten Island for the first time in too long, and sat up talking in the kitchen with his mother and a mug of warm milk that she insisted he drink. His mother had at one time driven him crazy with pointed questions about why she never saw that pretty wife of his, or when she was getting grandchildren. But on this visit she talked to him about funny things he used to do when he was a kid, and how worried she had been about him when his dad left for good, and how she always knew he would turn out to be something special. And that she had been right. And something inside his chest had finally thawed out and he knew everything would be alright, in a unique way that only happens when you sit across from your mom in the kitchen of your childhood home and watch her hands cupped firmly around the same harvest-gold coffee mug she's used everyday of her life.

He had awoken in his childhood bed that day, still in his scrubs, and it felt like his heart beat differently in his chest, like someone had reached in and punched the reset button. After that, he was back to sleeping like a bucket of snow; his troubles suspended, and his heart buttressed by Father Francis's sermon at sunrise mass about St. Francis of Assisi and the value of simplicity. This was a concept that appealed to a man whose wardrobe of scrubs and jeans, and diet of shredded wheat and the occasional burger or slice, had a consistency similar to that of the saint's. If it was good enough for Frank, it was good enough for him.

So- he had set about carving even more routine into life-after-divorce. Which is easy to do when you live alone and your closest colleague is Dr. Shulman- a man who readily encouraged his monastic behaviors.

And yet somewhere along the course of this past year, the order of his life had eroded and here he was at 4:28 am, wide-awake with insomnia.

But this time felt different.

His insomnia lacked the sensation of staring into the abyss. Instead, his mind was racing with things that had happened over the course of the day- ideas for expanding the practice, notes he forgot to make in the chart of Mrs. Soledad about her irregular heartbeat, plans for a paper on the difficulty of interfacing with technology during patient visits (which he had to get published by the end of the year, he was overdue), that quip about his haircut that Dr. Lahiri threw his way this morning- which made him chuckle, again, despite himself- the usual rambling thoughts before he fell asleep. Just, since Dr. Shulman had retired, their volume had... increased. Well, it was around that time anyway. He told himself that the added responsibility they had all taken on at the practice was probably the trigger to his newfound sleeplessness.

But something was nagging at him as he restlessly got up and fumbled towards the front of his apartment to tie on his trainers in the dark, pull on his shorts, and swap out his t-shirt already damp with the stress-sweat of not sleeping.

It wasn't the first time in the past year that he had thrown himself into early-morning exercise instead of sleeping.

He considered this carefully as he nodded to Renaldo his garbage man and turned the corner, picking up his pace- and felt the prickly rush of cold, dewy air across his skin as he began to jog. Letting loose a big sigh that helped to unwind some of the keyed-up muscles at the base of his skull, he allowed his focus to fall to the rhythm of the sidewalk lines ahead of him.

If he was honest, his sleeping had maybe stuttered a little around the time the practice had first expanded. Somewhat around the time Dr. Reid had been hired (he still harbors some residual territorial feelings towards the guy, not that anyone would know), and then a sharp up-tick again when they had taken on the chattier, Dr. Lahiri.

Which had been good- they needed to take on more and younger patients and to do that they needed more (and younger) doctors. But the routine of his life had been disrupted and that had maybe, somewhat, stressed him out. Nothing he couldn't handle. He just found it easier when the office had a more business-like atmosphere. Things ran smoothly for him when he could compartmentalize the professional and the personal. He could see patients, do an emergency delivery, then change gears and grab a bite to eat with a woman he was dating- one of the handful of women he had stumbled upon since his divorce. And not even a blip in his blood pressure. All sorted and done for one day, as he headed home his heart would thump slower and slower until he fell asleep in his own bed. If he had something that nagged at him, he went to confession and then on Sundays rode the ferry out to the Island to spend some time with his mom. Everything in his life was firmly situated. He could handle stress.

Except for times like this, when he was on his own at 4:30 am and sprang out of bed and into the dark streets to get away from the repeating thoughts. Just the work stuff and bits of conversation, mostly. Things he couldn't shake off. And a little bit... her voice. And her laugh. Sometimes they got stuck on a loop, like that "Put a Ring On It" song she played too often in her office. She was a human earworm.

This was all her doing, the way she had scrambled everything together- being his co-worker, being his friend, being around all the time and also dragging him on weird dates and butting in with relationship advice he hadn't asked for... she proved to be uniquely difficult to file away into one of his compartments.

And she knew it.

As he turned onto 23rd Street and felt a hint of warmth from the sun peeking up on the other side of the Hudson, he also felt a bubble of warmth deep in his chest. He couldn't help cracking a lop-sided grin to himself as he pictured her expression in those moments when she knew she had knocked him off his axis. She was smug and self-satisfied and... adorable. He couldn't deny it. Lately at night, alone with his thoughts, he had the constant feeling of being in the middle of her monstrous clothes closet- trying to get everything sorted out, feeling overwhelmed. He was used to a small row of monotone, button-down relationships- still in their bags from the cleaners- and not the barrage of colors and textures she seemed able to seek out and curate like a pro. It was easy for her, this rainbow of emotional energy between them. And the hot, giddy sleeplessness that had been attacking him had maybe been a byproduct of all that disorder he had trouble such tuning out these days. He reached the edge of the Battery Park marina near Chelsea Pier where he usually about-faced and instead slowed his pace and came to a stop - placing his hands on his hips, breathing heavily and... grinning out at the water like an idiot.

Then he was walking back and forth in front of the chained-off water's edge, cooling down from the run, his mind racing ahead of him. He was still grinning when he realized- he couldn't stop doing this. Letting her scramble everything up at the practice and drag him into her spring break planning, show up at his apartment on a Saturday with paint swatches for his bedroom and then confuse him into watching "this Nicholas Cage movie" that turns out to be 'Corelli's Mandolin' and... generally screw with the stride and structure of his life- because he kind of loved it.

Because he wasn't a monk, and because that feeling of being overwhelmed by her had taken on a sharper edge lately- he found himself needing that feeling all the time. Even at four in the morning.

His mother had summed it up best during his last visit: "You look happy. Whatever it is... keep doing it."

At the time, he felt a twinge of nervousness as his mother had conspiratorially patted the back of his hand, a twinkle present in her eye. It had been the twinkle that pushed him over the edge- a self-conscious grin spreading over his face that day like the one he felt now. One that spread up from his toes and over the back of his head as his ears lifted slightly and he had a sense that his face was a giant blinking billboard that his mother was able to read. And now, this morning, when gazing out into the hint of a sunrise- he thought back to all those times in the past year he felt like someone could see his feelings strung out across a canvass, laid bare. His thoughts flew to that moment a few weeks back, on the airplane, when he reached out for her hand despite himself.

Yes- lately, everything was messy and confusing and he had a constant knot in his stomach and now he couldn't sleep, but he also couldn't shake the feeling that everything in his life had gradually become better and more exciting and more... colorful, since the day she first interviewed with Dr. Shulman. And the thawed-out feeling in his chest he felt that first day back in his mom's kitchen had stayed and stayed the more he gave into Mindy's demands… because he liked to.

It was then he thought of the similar mischievous twinkle he just couldn't stop himself from chasing after.

And that was his thought as he turned his aching, sleepless body and started jogging again- the sun coming up over his left shoulder and his heart pounding more than it should at such a slow pace. All he wanted right now was that mixed-up feeling of her permeating his life. He turned and went the opposite way up 23rd Street this time, a little light-headed and his fingers wouldn't stop tingling. The grin slowly melted off his face and he started running with purpose down the empty street, catching up to his pounding heart, shock waves running up from his feet as they hit the pavement.

He ran faster still and where the sidewalk had been, he saw her face beaming up at him.

Out on the streets in that pocket of time in the early morning where everything feels possible he sensed that if he could beat the sun to her apartment, he could maybe trick himself into doing something that would just mess up everything in the best possible way.

And then maybe he could get some sleep.


	2. The Street Where You Live

2. The Street Where You Live.

It was not as simple as it had sounded to him, in his head, on the way over.

Danny came to an abrupt halt in front of her building, panting and drenched in sweat. He saw the sun brushing the upper left corner of the roof of her building and he was suddenly aware of the sounds of morning in the city slowly gaining momentum around him- the honking of cars from the expressway, the street sweeper three blocks over, and even a few birds happily chirping in a tree across the street (in the city, who knew?). All of which added up to the quiet sound of Danny Castellano chickening out.

He stood there for a long minute, staring up from the stoop of her building. As he watched one of Mindy's neighbors emerge from the front door to walk a little fluff-ball they probably refer to as a dog- it dawned on him that he had forgotten what came next in this carpe diem scheme of his. And judging by the accusatory glance as she passed by him onto the sidewalk, he realized that he maybe looked a little agitated because of it. He turned away from the building and lifted up a sweaty hand to drag down the length of his face. He cringed, then wiped it on the tail of his shirt and tried again- okay, how did that make it worse? He looked down at his sweat-soaked clothes and remembered that this was why he wasn't good at these impulsive things.

Whatever brilliant idea had been in his head when he pointed himself in this direction had not included the fact that he would still be a sweaty, sleep-deprived mess when he got here. And kinda nauseous, now. The thing that Danny Castellano was best at was doing the right thing, and... discipline, and maintaining a routine (like the one he should be following right now where he goes home and showers and goes to work like normal), and also doing things that aren't any fun and have no reward, but- you do them anyway because-

"DANNY?!"

His eyes snap open wide and a wave of goose-bumps shiver down his arms as he whips back around to face the building, knocking one sneaker into the other and nearly toppling.

There stood Dr. Mindy Lahiri, looking at him from the open doorway like he was some deranged cat lurking outside her home. He'd been caught. He had a similar instinct to bolt.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" she calls down to him in a stage whisper. "You look like you just ran a marathon while being chased by a mugger!" Her confused and almost angry expression keeps him from doing more than a kind of turtle-like opening and closing of his mouth for a second, stalling.

"Ahhh, hey Mindy! Nice, nice to see you out... here. How... how ya doin'?" he replies, yeah- standing there on her street like a jerk. He puts one hand on his hip while the other begins to scratch the back of his head, very casually.

"How am I _doin'_?" she mocks in her creaky, early-morning voice, "What is wrong with you? It's 5:30 in the morning! What, have you joined some kind of psycho pre-dawn boot camp meet-up, and didn't want to give out your own address?"

At this- he smiles, and the feeling of it renews his purpose. She looks more confused now than angry and he takes a few cocky-looking strides up the steps and closes the space between them. She shrinks back behind the door a little as he does this, wary of his presence or his smell, he can't tell. She has on that crazy-looking bathrobe with all the colors on it, but her legs are bare and she's not wearing any shoes and her toes are a shiny kind of pink. Her hair swirls around the back of her head in a way that makes him picture her a few minutes before this, hair spread out across her pillow as she slept. His expression darkens as he stands there, staring intently.

"Oh, my god- Mrs. Wallace." Mindy mumbles in a tired voice and glares up at him, pulling her cell-phone out of the pocket of her robe and dialing a number. "Mrs. Wallace? Hey, yeah- it's okay- you can come back inside... No, no- we don't need to call the police, it's fine, it's not a crazy person, just bring Sabrina back around the corner, I'll wait for you." Crossing her arms in front of her and leaning back against the door now, she says, accusingly- "I got a call from my 80-year-old neighbor at dawn telling me that there was a stalker lurking outside our building who looked like he was going to attack her dog and could I please come downstairs to the lobby and keep an eye on him while she calls the police?"

Danny grimaces at that and mumbles "What kind of busy-body old woman calls the cops on a jogger?"

"What? I'm sorry, I can't hear you when you use that creepy-stalker voice," she snaps. He sees her almost smile at that, but she quickly pushes her face back into a frown.

He cracks a bigger, goofier smile and for a beat just watches her self-righteous expression. Yesterday's eye make-up is smeared across her face on one side and he reaches up slowly and wipes it off, onto his thumb, as she cringes and tries to pull away. "Ucch! What are you doing, your hands are all sweaty-" Mindy protests.

A voice calls up to them from the street- "Mindy? Dear! Are... are you sure everything's okay?!" Mrs. Wallace is back, clutching both her Pomeranian and her phone to her chest, looking more suspicious and terrified than the first time Danny saw her.

"Oh! Hey, Mrs. Wallace- yes, everything's okay, come on back inside!" says Mindy as she slides past him onto the steps and tip-toes down, still barefoot, to guide her back up. "This is just my friend Danny from work, who I can't honestly promise you is not crazy, but who I can assure you is generally harmless to you and little Sabrina. You know, this is really early for you to be out anyway, though- and-" she stops and waits for Danny to take the hint and move himself out of the doorway so they can pass, for which he receives another glare from the frail-looking woman.

"Oh, well yes, dear- I usually wait until daylight, but she's getting older and has such a hard time holding it and she just won't use the little grass potty-mat I've put out in the kitchen for her-" they reach her door on the first level of the apartments and Mindy waits there as she unlocks it.

"Well, there might be a drug that your vet could prescribe to her, I'll look it up when I get back to my office-" "Darifenacin!" Danny calls out from the hallway behind her. Mindy turns slightly and looks at him like he has two heads, then turns back to her neighbor and says- "and we are SO sorry for all the trouble this morning. Right, Danny?" she shoots over her shoulder.

"Oh- right. But, I mean, it's not like I was standin' out there waving a gun around or anything," he chuckles uneasily, and at this Mrs. Wallace startles and reaches to close the door. Mindy shoots him a warrior-woman look and he quickly calls out- "Sorry! Mrs. Wallace! Sorry again... about the stuff..." His words echo once in the foyer as her door clicks shut next to Mindy, who stands in the middle of the hall seeming to take up more space than he would think is possible by someone of her diminutive size and- are her nostrils flaring?

"Are. You. Mental?" she whispers, tilting her head to the right at the last word, eyes burning into his.

A half-smile shifts slowly down and off his face as he realizes- she's pissed.

He clears his throat and tries a new tact- "You got anything for breakfast? I'm kinda hungry."

Mindy looks back at him for a long moment, then blinks once, tiredly. "I think I have some Tostitos."

"For breakfast?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Get out."

"Okay, sorry! Tostitos for breakfast-" he says in a rush as she marches past him, shoving a hand into the middle of his chest to move him out of the way, and turns to go back upstairs. He follows her and tries hard not to look up at her swaying hips and the bare legs pushing her up the steps. But he does, and he smiles up at the whirl of colors leading him towards her apartment. This felt right- this was the messy, weird, nervousness he is apparently addicted to.

And the sun wasn't even up yet.


	3. Oh, Danny Boy

3. Oh, Danny Boy.

This was so... inconvenient. Like, Danny seriously could not have picked a more awful time to have a mid-life crisis. Mindy sighs and lets her door swing wide behind her as she ambles into her still-dark apartment and over to her refrigerator, from which she plucks an open bag of tortilla chips. She plops down on the barstool and reaches in the bag to grab a handful of (very probably stale) chips, turning to watch him enter the apartment. He is looking weird and loopy, closing the door behind him with one large swing- and then jumping at the sound of it slamming behind him. Oh, my god. Why does she have to be such a good friend?

He walks over to the kitchen island and takes the stool opposite her, slowly straddling it and reaching into the bag of chips without looking away from her face.

"Yeah, I gotta warn you, those are pretty stale." she says flatly.

He shrugs and shoves several in his mouth at once, munching loudly. She doesn't usually have a problem with chewing noises, but right now, with him staring into her eyes weirdly, it's kind of making her rage a little inside. There just isn't enough space in her life for this stuff. She had now lost a good half hour of her morning to this... whatever is happening here, and it didn't look like she was going to be getting back to sleep anytime soon. This is the kind of thing that is keeping her from doing things like making her audition tape for The Bachelor. Or, if it wasn't for this, she could be planning a trip to Australia right now. Well, not this early in the morning, but- in general- if her friends would stop having emotional problems for, like, a week she could totally make Big Things happen. And she definitely needed to stop giving her number out to her neighbors. She had a terrible habit of vacillating between curt nods with no eye contact and inviting them over for Thanksgiving. But Mrs. Wallace's story of her five-decades-long marriage was like an epic plot from Dynasty- she could not fault herself for getting sucked in.

The only light in the apartment now is coming from the large window in her living room, where the sun is starting to slide in from the east over near the river. It paints a wide amber stripe across half of Danny's face as he chews and swallows in the silence. He looks pretty busted. She's sure that at this hour she is no treat to the eyes, either- but this is some weird voodoo-like expression and he has a grayish half-moon under each eye. It's all very troubling and she fights the urge to throw him out of the apartment when he reaches in for more gross chips. Instead she asks, "Danny. Are you… a serial killer?"

"Ha! What? What are you talking about?" he grins goofily back at her and then pushes a lone chip in his mouth this time.

"I don't know man- you tell me! I find you out on the stoop lookin' like a maniac before the sun's even up. You are covered in sweat and you have the thousand-yard stare of a guy who just maybe strangled another guy last night. So! It's like Laura Linney says in 'Love Actually'- you ask the most obvious question, in case it's the right one." She smiles a little, like she has proven her point, then bites into a chip- and immediately opens her mouth to let it drop back in pieces onto the counter.

Danny smiles at her and then slowly reaches out to smooth some of the wayward hair on the side of her head.

"What is this? Are you petting me? Ohhh. Oh, no. Danny if you did murder someone last night... maybe we could get you some help. Unless… you are here to kill me, in which case I'll have you know that I have knives literally hidden ALL over this apartment- wait,"

"Would you quit with the- what is wrong with you? I'M NOTTA MURDERER!" Danny says, a little too loudly, maybe.

Mindy purses her lips. "Well, what can I say? You kinda fit the profile: Number One- 'Anger Issues', Number Two- 'Loner', Number Three- 'Scalpel Skills'- " she comes to a stop when she notices him leaning towards her slightly and loses her nerve. She contemplates letting out a tiny pre-scream to test her vocal chords this early in the morning. God, it is definitely too early for this sh-

"You look really beautiful right now."

A long moment hangs in the air as she stares back into his insufferably dark brown eyes. Mindy swallows quietly, wishing she had a water bottle within reach. She suddenly realizes that he smells, well, like a guy who just ran twenty blocks, but not... unpleasant. Kind of… musky in a way she imagines Cameron Diaz is intimately familiar with. His eyes are flicking across her face like he is looking for something written there. And... yes, okay- maybe she knows he's not a serial killer. Is he old enough to have male menopause? She could look into that testosterone supplement deodorant for him if that were the case. Is he dying? Is this some weird 'visit to tell his dearest colleague goodbye'? Oh, my god- that would be so sad for her.

He inhales suddenly and then leans back out of her space and hops off of the stool to his feet. He is smiling again, as he walks towards the door. Danny is easily 10 times more annoying this early in the morning.

"I'm gonna go."

She kinda hopes he's dying. "Dude- WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?! My alarm goes off in twenty minutes!"

He turns to face her and does a slow, lazy shrug. Looking happier than he should- than he usually ever really does, actually.

"I just... wanted to see you before work." Did he just wink at her? Is Danny a winker?

On impulse, Danny crosses the room again and, slipping one hand behind her head, he tilts her cheek up towards him and then hesitates. She feels his breath cross her skin for a moment before he slowly leans in and kisses her gently in that soft space at the corner of her mouth. He trails his hand down the length of her arm and lets his fingers brush across her palm, squeezing it briefly as he pulls away.

He whistles his way back to the door and calls out over his shoulder as he closes it; "I'll see you at work, Min!"

Mindy sits, motionless, staring at the space where he stood. And she is left with the one thought-

Am _I _dying?


	4. God Only Knows

4. God Only Knows

Mindy sat at her kitchen island long enough for just her butt to fall back to sleep. Then she got up slowly, filled her teakettle and set it on the stove. As she is waiting for the water to boil, she decides to send an email to her general practitioner inquiring about perhaps coming in for a second annual-physical, and maybe also an MRI of her brain. Logically, she knows that it is fairly unlikely that Danny would have any inside information on her dying of some terminal disease, but now that she has had the thought she feels compelled to ward off whatever hex she might have placed on her longevity.

This had been one of her weirder mornings.

But then everything involving Danny was weird. There were these windows where he behaved like a normal person- in fistfights, around food, delivering babies. Kill, eat, procreate- your big three on a minimal-life-sustaining level. Actually, his fighting skills were a pretty hilarious- he was always protecting his 'surgeon's hands' so he throws a lot of elbows and tries to get the other dude in a headlock. Mindy was pretty sure Morgan had something to do with that last move.

And there was the time that he stormed the dance floor like Enrique Eglesias. He had looked pretty human out there with his shirt unbuttoned and his cheeks flushed pink.

But ALL the other times, he's like a crabby robot.

Mindy sipped her tea and tried to shake off the unnerving sense that Danny was up to something. Since she had known him he had gotten up to exactly nothing. He was like that robot they programmed to take out the trash, but instead of "trash" they typed "fun". This thought made her let out a tired chuckle, which made her bump her teeth against the rim of her mug. She cringed and set it down on the counter, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and debating whether to call in sick to work. Then she thought about the moment she found Danny unannounced in front of her house that morning, and instead headed for her bathroom. If she didn't go to work, she now fully expected him to pop up from behind the counter at Bergdorf's and ask her why they don't spend more time shopping together. Psycho. Wait- was this reverse psychology? Was he trying to trick her into avoiding him at the office all day, or into not taking sick days? Whatever it was she would have normally done today, this was probably all a scheme to get her to do the opposite. Right?

As Mindy turned the hot water on, she thought again of the feeling of his sweaty hand on her face in the doorway. His expression had been so child-like. Had he in fact been sleepwalking his way over to her house that morning, maybe he was dreaming of a child-hood crush when he looked at her in that weird way. Maybe, in that moment, he was tiny little chubby Danny who crawled backwards up the slide to accost Katy with the bright yellow hair who was tired of having her pigtails pulled.

She shook the robe off her shoulders and stepped under the water, eyes closed, not moving for a long moment. As water rushed over her, she realized that she felt a tickle just to the left of her lips. She worked shampoo into her hair then half-heartedly started to shave her legs, the beginnings of a headache starting to become apparent. She was pretty sure that it was her that he had been looking at in the doorway. And she was definitely sure that he was wide-awake when his lips brushed over her cheek. She froze with the razor hovering over her ankle precariously.

No. Whatever this was, it was not happening.

After hurriedly finishing her shower, she went through her morning routine of drying off, moisturizing, and dashing in and out of her closet with half an outfit in one hand and her Clarisonic brush buzzing across her face in the other. This was not going to happen- she would not let Danny Castellano get the jump on her once more. She would be at the office early, with a serene expression on her face, and kick ass all fucking day. The practice was fully one-third hers and she would not be edged out of her professional career through some Black Swan-like meltdown. She was Dr. Lahiri, Warrior Princess. And also Erin Brockovich. And also Dr. Quinn, before she caved and let the hot guy seduce her and then marry her and honeymoon her brains out on a train. Whatever Danny's fumbling, cloying, weirdness meant- it would not be her undoing.

These were her thoughts as she blasted her "Get it, Bitch." cardio mix (okay, she maybe more often used it as a sex mix) through her ear buds on the commuter train, and also in the elevator on the way up to the office. Danny would not be getting his way this time, she worked almost harder than anyone at the practice and she was damn good at everything- just all the doctor stuff. She swept into the dark and empty space and threw on the lights, deaf to the buzzing of the light bulbs warming up. Her work-tote clasped in hand, Mindy swung open the door to her office and-

There sat Danny, in the dark, blowing across the top of his coffee mug. On the desk was a paper bag from the last gluten-full bakery in the area.

She saw him saying something as the sirens started up in the intro to "Ring the Alarm." They mimicked the sound of blood whooshing through her ears and she popped her ear buds out and said in a dangerously quiet whisper, "I have one question for you," getting nothing more than a perked eyebrow in response,

"What gives you the right?"

His face frozen, Danny carefully murmured out "To… do what, exactly?"

"This, Danny! Just all of THIS", gesturing at the probably delicious baked items, " and- the kissing me and the hiding out in my office and stinking up my apartment at 5am. Just- stop fucking with, me okay? I know what you're trying to do and you will not edge me out. I don't care if 'Castellano and Reid' sounds like a really kick-ass private investigation firm, or if you want to turn my office into a water birthing room! You are NOT getting rid of me through your… sexuality." Oh, my god, did she really just say 'sexuality'?

At this, Mindy realizes that she is maybe hyperventilating a little (and also possibly pms-ing) and that this all may have run off the rails at some point. She tries to slow her shallow, panicky breathing while she stares intently at the carpet and tries not to meet his eye-line, but in a statuesque way. She also notices that she has her skirt on sideways.

Danny rises slowly out of her chair and she can almost not resist looking up as she feels him boring a hole into the middle of her face with his eyes.

"Mindy… the last thing I'm trying to do is get rid of you."


	5. Bonnie & Clyde

Wow, guys, wow. I have not written anything in so long but all the reviews and follows I am getting are so touching. I continue to be in awe of all of the writers in this fandom.

If you couldn't tell from Chapter One (and Two...), I am pretty head-over-heels in love with Danny Castellano. I cannot think of a character that makes me laugh so hard. Like his naïve "glass ceiling" interpretation, or his response of "Nope." at the very mention of Josh.

And also Chris Messina's stupid face. I wrote these next five chapters with the picture of him pulling a puppy out of his coat (from tumblr) sitting there on my desktop, so whoever threw that out onto the interwebs- I humbly thank you and also blame you for the unmitigated fluff that surrounds the rated-m-ness of these two getting it on. I... endeavor to write in Mindy's voice, so your comments on that were very much appreciated.

One last note- I joined twitter bc of TMP so if anyone has some squeeing to do, follow me jane_dra 'jane dra' and I'll happily follow you back and promise not to tweet too much about things non-TMP.

5. Bonnie & Clyde

Mindy resisted the urge to straighten her skirt, although it was really bugging her and kind of undermining her self-righteous posturing. Also her wall of diplomas and awards was suddenly very interesting to her as Danny continued to stare directly at her.

She looked over quickly, gauging whether Danny was serious or not. And also whether her little diatribe had pissed him off. His expression was relaxed but still focused on her, unblinking. This fact only served to piss her off because she was starting to feel the excitement of one of their typical sports-bar worthy explosive arguments, but he clearly wasn't baited. She couldn't stand it when he took the high road.

Turning towards him finally, she said evenly and in her most professional tone, "Okay. If you say that you are not, in fact, trying to throw me off my game and ruin my professional career to form 'Castellano, sans Associates'… I guess I have to take that at face value." She continued in a quieter voice, "Also, I am very sorry that I accused you of being a murderer." She saw Danny smile suddenly and start to open his mouth to speak. Fearing she had taken too high a road she quickly blurted out "Also, I'll have you know this practice would DIE without me, you two dorks are LUCKY to have me here, day in and day out putting up with all of your he-man crap and giving this office a woman's touch because it is… after all an office of obstetrics and gynecology." At this she lowers her tote bag into the chair at the door with as much dignity as she can muster as she tosses her iPod and hello kitty ear buds on top.

Okay, her last point could have sounded a little more professional.

"I know." Danny said the words slowly, but without a hint of sarcasm. Seriously- what the fuck was going on with him.

"That's... kind of what I went to your apartment to tell you this morning, just- things did not go great, I get that." He flashed a smile and continued, "For you, I mean. _I_ had a great time."

"This is true, my morning has been pretty craptastic thanks to you... so apparently you really suck at surprises." Mindy's eyes flitted briefly to the breakfast sitting on her desk but she was not backing down yet. "They are not supposed to be scary- for one. Also, it's best if the person is awake and the cops are not involved."

Danny caught her looking at the food, and reached down with both hands to open up what was probably a croissant filled with something greasy and delicious, judging by the wrapper. "Well, for that I apologize. And I'm gonna make it up to you. Also, I'm gonna try to be less sweaty and stalkerish from now on." He walks around the desk, pressing a cup of coffee into her right hand. She notices that he allows his fingers to brush across the back of her hand longer than is necessary and remembers the feeling of him kissing her earlier, similar to this moment in both proximity and intensity.

"Yeah, good luck with that, Castellano." This statement lacks the bite she had intended for it, as he is still standing in her space and her voice comes out as more of a whisper out against his lips.

Danny's eyes are doing that searching thing again, and he mumbles back "I know you- you're freaking out. That's what you do, and that's okay." At this, he smirks, which enflames Mindy's temper for a fleeting moment.

"How dare you!" She pauses as she looks up at him and knows for the second time that morning that Danny Castellano means her no harm. Like, ever. "Yeah... okay. Maybe you are freaking me out, Danny. Do you wanna... catch me up to speed, here?" She swallows and raises the coffee cup to her lips, brushing it in between the two of them awkwardly because there isn't actually room for it and she realizes that this closeness is quickly becoming a habit of his.

He takes a step back at this and stretches his hand out behind him to the desk, grabbing and quickly biting down into Mindy's food. Wait- it was her food, right? "I came in early because I wanted to spend some time in your space, here," he gestures around at her desk and lamp, like that explains her morning.

"O... kay." Mindy huffs and grabs his hand to take a bite of what better be one of two sandwiches in that bag.

He chews for a moment and leans back against the desk. Mindy resolves to wait him out. She could make eye contact all day, buddy. "I want to spend more time with you... like, all my time."

Mindy stops chewing and coughs once. She tries to sip her coffee again, but swallowing is not happening right now. She lets her eyes dart around the room at what, she's not sure, and thinks back to all the other times Danny has kind of accosted her with niceness. Like, unexpected, word-vomit niceness. She tries to remember if she has ever been single during one of those moments.

"Sorry if that's too much. But, like you always say... life is short."

"You're old- Danny I say "you're old", not life is short." She forces herself to look back up at him, only to catch the sad, queasy smile that she never knows quite what to do with.

Danny clears his throat and continues, reluctantly "Mindy. This morning I realized that, from now on, I wanna... I wanna do whatever you want me to do. Starting today." This earns him a dubious look, which he maybe deserves since he doesn't have a great track record of actually doing what she wants. Mindy is staring back at him in that space-cadet way that usually makes him laugh. Right now it's giving him that shaking, nervous feeling he pretends he doesn't have before every surgery. "...I'm serious, name whatever you want. Tonight, we're gonna do it."

They both blanch a little at his choice of words, but pretend not to notice.

After a long awkward silence, Mindy takes a step towards him. They are both putting on their best brave-face when she reaches out to grab her breakfast from his grasp. "Okay, I want to get mani-pedi's and then go to the blow-out bar... you can keep me company." She looks in his eyes from inches away, her raised eyebrow daring him to wince.

He does, but not much. "Mindy! Okay… yes. While we _both_ know you'd have a better time doing that with your girlfriends… I'm a man of my word. If that's really... what you want to do."

"It is."

"Okay."

"Well, that's... really weird, Danny. That sounds like something I would make a boyfriend do. Like, for my birthday. Because he has to."

"Yup."

Mindy stops breathing for just a second. She thinks back to the conversation she had with Josh in the rehab center, which feels weird while looking into Danny's eyes because she feels a little like he can see it playing out behind her own. This crap with Christina had stirred up a lot of weird stuff for Danny lately, but she is starting to hear vague snippets of Taylor Swift songs right now and she maybe, sort of, sees where he is going with all this.

"You don't actually have to do that with me." She is having a little trouble breathing, because she can feel Danny breathing right now.

His eyes soften at this and he whispers, "Look, I realize I'm a little ahead of you. For once. Maybe I'm a lot ahead of you, I don't know. But I think you know that I want you."

Whoa. Okay, she was going to need some lyrical references from people over the age of 22. She is suddenly aware of the darkness of her office and the cleavage-revealing dip in the black blouse she picked out this morning.

"And- this? This is going to happen. And I have to believe that somewhere in there… you know that, too." His face tells her that he is not at all sure of this.

Mindy was feeling really slow right now. In that good way, like when you're on vicodin and everyone is beautiful, but also really, really witty. "So... you're sure you aren't just… messing with me?" says this and wants to take it back immediately. If she was right, she didn't need to know that just yet, really. He could tell her some more nice things before the inevitable 'sike!'.

"I'm not. I really like messing with you, but that's not what's happening here."

He drops the sandwich and reaches up towards her shoulders and slides his hands down her upper arms, only to let them rest lightly at her hips. They hang there for a second before he pinches the silver brocade waistband of her skirt and twists the garment a quarter turn to the left. She pretends she does not feel a flutter down below like a rubber band snapping.

She clears her throat and squeaks out "Thank you."

"You're welcome. What... did you get dressed in the dark or something?" At this he grins wildly and cups her head, tilting it and raising her face to meet his. He looks into her eyes for a moment and she realizes that he looks happy. Like, really scary happy. And that he has done that thing again where he leans way into her space. It's then that she feels the tip of his nose touch her cheek, only a fraction of a second before his lips press into hers. The kiss is slow and lingering and long enough that she has time to register how quiet she feels. How still and low and humming this feeling of kissing him is.

And yes, okay, maybe Danny's testosterone levels are fine. Like, really fine.

And if Danny had, infact, lost his mind and this was all some sort of mental breakdown spiraling into serial killer territory, well... she at least has a few episodes of Dexter backlogged on her DVR to help her navigate her life as a psycho's enabler girlfriend. Because... that was still easier to wrap her head around than the idea that Danny Castellano, M.D. was going to be nice to her now. Or that he wanted to be really, really nice to her.


	6. Delicate

6. Delicate

When they hear Morgan and Betsy enter the practice an hour later, Danny has Mindy pinned against the wall by the door, with his hand up her skirt. As they break apart, Mindy starts to wipe at the pink lip gloss smeared across his face. He hums happily and attempts to kiss her collarbone a few times, before easing away from her. His hair is askew, as are his shirt and other items of clothing. They exchange a glance and there is a tacit agreement that he will hang out in her office for a bit and try to compose himself while Mindy emerges to make distracting chitchat on the opposite side of the reception desk. And pretend that she wasn't considering letting him get to third base only moments before, which feels a little slutty to admit, even to herself. Except it's Danny, and that is apparently setting a new standard for her personal sluttiness-level. Four hours ago she was three-weeks celibate. And asleep.

Grateful for her dark complexion, she slips into her lab coat and feels almost sure that these two kids are too caught up in talking about ramen noodle recipes to notice that her cheeks are still flushed. She does covertly re-button the top button on her blouse behind her clipboard. Clearing her throat, she smiles brightly and jumps into the conversation as she crosses around in front of Morgan-"You guys have to try the shrimp flavor, but- uh, add in steak-ums? It tastes exactly like beef and broccoli from one of those dive-y asian places in Soho. But, there's no need to add broccoli, that's kind of overkill."

"Hey, Dr. L! What are you doing here so early?" Betsy asks, with a little too much surprise in her voice.

"That's just one of the things you don't... know about me, Betsy! I come in early... sometimes. And then I leave again... and I then come back after everyone else gets here. It's a great, uh, time to get the 'ole paperwork done." She waves her clipboard once in front their faces, and realizes she is talking a little too loudly. Trying not to blush again she stammers a little as she watches Danny cross the bullpen into his office behind them, "But, not today, nope, gonna just head back in and get a head start on going over lab results. So... that's what I'll be doing, guys- in my office. If you need me." At this, she backs away from them again and tries walking into her doorway, only to discover that she has misjudged the distance and instead bumps against the wall twice and ultimately slides against it until she reaches her doorway. She bows her head to avoid their gaze as she slowly shuts the door and hears Morgan say, "That Dr. Lahiri is amazing! Steak-ums, how did I not think of that..."

"Fuck, I am not great at this." She whispers this softly as her forehead presses into the cool wood. She lets her head roll to the right and squenches her eyes tight for several minutes, pressing her entire body against the cold, solid, door and listening to Betsy and Morgan talking and the phone beginning to ring. She had patients today. Like, a lot of patients. And Mrs. Palmer had called in yesterday and reported that she suspects her Braxton-Hicks contractions had started up again, so she would be stopping in to go over her meds in-between the other appointments. This was not a head-in-the-clouds day. She opens her eyes a fraction, and realizes that she is now inadvertently starting out at the place where Danny had been pretty furiously groping her breast earlier, with her back pressed against the wall. And giving her some serious tongue. At this, she whimpers a little and bites her lip as her body betrays her again and flushes all over at the thought of all the other parts he had pressed against her.

Quickly she peels her body away from the door, which now reminds her all too well of the solid feeling of his hips pressed into hers, and walks to her desk, cutting on the lamp behind it before sitting down. She lets the chart she had been gripping fall into her lap and stares off into space for a solid twenty minutes. She starts to do this thing where she lets her mind race way ahead of her- like, engagement party e-vites and breast feeding ahead of her, only to reel herself back into the moment. In the moment she was a very tired 33 year old woman with a long day ahead of her and now one very non-jerky coworker and also friend who was sitting on the other side of the office very probably trying to ignore the semi that had emerged during their grope-fest. Who also just so happens to want to get all up in her business, in more ways than one.

Is this how he felt? Is this the cause of the stress-headache face he got when she was a little too carried away and made him do things he later regretted? Not that she regretted this, whatever this had been this morning, but she wasn't really sure where this thing between them was going if Danny Castellano was going to stop putting on the brakes. The thought crossed her mind that his inertness and automatic opposition to all of her dumbest ideas had become something she had begun to play off of intentionally.

And as nice as he could sometimes be to her, it was the cold-bucket-of-water moments that had cemented their friendship. It stung like hell, but the things he said when he maybe shouldn't say anything had helped to outline him firmly in her head. She realized that while she still had some work to do on her impression of him, she had a pretty good handle on the outline of his heart.

There was something delicate about the way that he had kissed her this morning and the thought of it made her realize that she was in deep, deep trouble here. She thought back to everything she had said to him that morning and let her head drop into her hands with a groan. If she screwed this up she really, kind of, definitely deserved to die alone.

She jumped up abruptly as Betsy tapped on her door and opened it a crack, calling out "Ms. Feinstein in room 2!"

"Yes, uh, thank you! Betsy. Thanks." She grabbed at some folders at the top of her inbox and flipped through them frantically, striding quickly around the corner, careful to not turn to face in the direction of Danny's office.

Why couldn't he just have a sex addiction, like every other guy in Manhattan?


	7. Ho, Hey

7. Ho, Hey.

At the end of the longest day she had experienced since the night-of-four-births, Danny appeared in the doorway to the break room- looking even more tired than she felt right now.

She was sitting on the couch in her scrubs and glasses, thinking back over the past few hours. Both Danny and Jeremy had jumped in to cover all of her patients for the afternoon after Mrs. Palmer had shown up in full-blown labor. By the time they both made it to the hospital, her blood pressure had dipped precariously. At the same time, it had become apparent that a c-section would be necessary and Mindy scrubbed in knowing that it would be one of the riskier procedures she had done in her career. And now, sitting alone with herself and an episode of Monk, she was thinking of that screaming hot-pink face lying in the nursery and feeling pretty damn fantastic.

And then she saw him leaning in the doorway, looking at her like he always has- like he uniquely knew what she was feeling in that moment. Before this morning, it had unnerved her. The way he looked at her made her wonder if he could see all the things people aren't supposed to see when they look at her. But now, she kind of didn't mind.

"I just saw him. Nice one, Dr. Lahiri." He tucked his hands into his jeans and flashed her one of those sloppy smiles he saved for when he really, really meant it.

"You look awful, Danny. Did you really not sleep at all last night?" she would normally rouse herself to do some hair flipping in that universal sign for 'you should one day, maybe make out with me again', but this wasn't that moment. She was pretty sure they didn't have those moments. She smiled slowly back at him, remembering some of the stuff he said this morning. Things he might be wishing she had forgotten.

"Nah, I haven't in awhile, actually. But I'm feeling pretty tired right now. Hey- you want to go get some Ethiopian food with me?" he asked this even as he blinked slowly, like he could fall asleep where he was standing.

"You sure about that, dude? Because it sort of looks like you need a bed more than you need ethnic food."

He winked at her and said only "I could go for both actually. Come on, get dressed- I'm taking you to Brooklyn!"

"Brooklyn?! NO, Danny. No. We do not go to Brooklyn if we can help it." She shook her head adamantly.

And then they kind of went to Brooklyn.

She had begrudgingly thrown on a printed cap sleeve wrap-dress that she kept in her locker with a coordinating pair of navy sling-back wedges. It was her go-to emergency date outfit for the season and she had used it on exactly no one. Which pleased her even if no one knew that, as the feeling of Danny's arm sliding over the material to rest at her hip her made her happy in a way that she never wanted to replicate again in that outfit.

They walked the four blocks over because the weather was nice, because this was not an outfit you wasted on the L train, and because she had only agreed to go to Brooklyn because Danny promised that the place he had in mind was just on the edge- more Brooklyn-adjacent than deep in the heart of the monstrosity. On the way over, they traded notes on the many ways they had spent the morning avoiding each other, and she told him a little about the delivery she made.

"You know, you really were right- about what you said this morning." Danny said this abruptly as they turned onto the last block between 'you are here' and 'food'.

She thought back to all of the things she had been saying lately. "I was right about... what now?" cutting her eyes sideways at him.

He chuckled a little and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, like he had been waiting for an excuse. "The practice. We'd be lost without you." He looked away from her then, but his eyes were dark in that way they get when he is saying more than he's actually saying.

Mindy smiled at this and replied, teasingly, "Hey, since when would a dodgy place in this neighborhood be considered 'my idea'? Isn't that what you said this morning- that things would be Mindy's way from hereon out? Because, I have to say- I was really into that."

"You're absolutely right,"

Danny turned to her suddenly and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in closer than was appropriate for a public area- particularly the arm across her lower back, which tilted her hips into his like he was taking possession of her. It was inappropriate. And antifeminist. And she let out a squeak because it was also way, way hot. Her hands fluttered out of surprise, then came to rest around his neck. He leaned in until his lips hovered over hers precariously and in a low rumble that she could feel in some pretty personal places, whispered "I want to do whatever makes you happy. Because I think that's what makes me happy. But I have some ideas of my own about that, and I think they'll make you happy too." At this, he let his lips brush across hers innocently, as if he hadn't trapped her pelvis against his and she was really wishing that there was a wall behind her that wasn't covered in hipster urine. Mindy pressed her eyes shut and deepened the kiss, recapturing the taste of his tongue that her mind had spend most of the day blocking out. She felt his hand slide up under her hair to cradle her head and marveled at how open he felt, and how these words seemed to be easy for him somehow. And that she was pretty sure she believed all of them.

Danny pulled back and dropped a hand to the small of her back to steer her inside the restaurant, and Mindy thought fleetingly that this had already been one of her better dates.

As they were seated and started looking over the menu, Mindy also had the thought that this was one of the most ridiculous restaurants she had ever been to. "Danny... there are no forks. Why are there no forks?"

"Oh, ah- I think this is one of those countries where they eat with their hands." He gestured over to the next table, where a couple of teenagers were scooping chunks of meat up with what looked to be soggy bluish sponge and feeding each other.

"Oh, oh god. Danny, my parents put themselves through college in Delhi so that their children would not have to eat with their hands. And I think that blue stuff is the bread." The waitress walked over at that moment and put down a basket of blue stuff on the table between them.

They looked for a long moment at the basket. Danny started to laugh first, remembering that he had decided on this place after a lunchtime recommendation by Morgan. He was a little off his game today.

"Danny, I am so hungry, I'm afraid I'm going to eat some of it." She said this while reaching forward and tearing off the tiniest corner.

"You, know what? You try the bread, I'm going to go track down our waitress and ask about forks. And rice. I'll be right back."

When he returned moments later, there was a significant amount of sponge missing. Their drinks (and forks) arrived next, along with an order of lamb he had taken it upon himself to put in after the waitress talked him down a little bit. The food turned out to have a spicy kind of weirdness that always makes for good date food- new and interesting sensations to think back on later. They ate like the tired, hungry people they were. The check came and Mindy reached for it. Like, really reached for it. Both of their hands sat on the check for a moment. He tugged.

"So, how's this going to work, exactly? We're going to do this every time?" he was looking at her intensely, like he would not lose this.

"Every time? That's a little presumptuous for a guy that had to track down a fork for his date. I don't know, maybe. Do you want to go Dutch? Is that it, Danny?" she smiled a little too coyly back at him.

"I asked."

"I shaved my legs."

"Good."

Mindy decided that it would be okay if she let him win this one, and let go of the check.

After he paid, they found themselves back out on the street, waiting to hail a cab and somehow doing that proximity thing he was apparently good at making look accidental. He slipped his hand into hers and said quietly, staring straight ahead, "You know... this is kind of our third date."

Mindy looked up at him carefully. "Umm, how is that- exactly?" She started wracking her brain for the contents of her purse, and thinking back to how fast things had escalated in the darkened office that morning, and maybe a little bit rooting for him to come up with a really good answer.

"Well, one was that time we got pizza together, remember that?"

She smiled and said suspiciously, "The _worst_ pizza in the city? Yes, I have a vague recollection of that. I also seem to recall that you and I started out the evening on dates with different people. So, I'm not sure that counts, exactly."

He shrugged and offered, "Okay, then how about that time we had breakfast in the office and then made out with the lights off."

Uh, oh. "This morning?! Are you seriously telling me that that is the date you want to be telling people about during our 50th wedding anniversary slideshow?" she was going for righteous indignation, but she was afraid she also sounded a little bit into it.

Danny shrugged and turned to look her in the eye as he raised his arm at a passing cab. "Well, I would hope there's no slide for it, but- yeah. I'm good with that."

And he smiled and her stupid knees went weak and they were climbing in the cab and making out enough to give those teenagers back at the restaurant a run for their money. They sort of started where they left off earlier, but sloppier, with his hand on her breast and her leg over his waist and kissing like they were trying to decide who gets to be on top. She snuck a peek at him as he ran his hand up her thigh and felt herself melt at the way his eyelashes fluttered as he gazed down at it. A wrap dress is a dangerous weapon in the employ of a 30-something woman in the city who just maybe found a guy who lets her bring up wedding anniversaries on their first/third date and doesn't immediately crawl out the proverbial bathroom window.

When they emerged from the cab at her place, she felt distinctly that letting her decide everything maybe wasn't the worst idea he had ever had.


	8. Underneath It All

8. Underneath It All

As they climbed the stairs, Mindy felt a little lightheaded at the idea that Danny wanted her. They had just spent the past ten minutes making out on the front steps, trying to help each other find her keys to unlock the front door- which also involved a lot of Danny checking her nonexistent pockets. When they finally found them, Danny had taken them out of her hand without breaking the kiss and reached back with one hand to turn it and pop the door open. Which they had to do three times, since they kept getting distracted and letting the door swing shut again. He had finally let go of her completely and stood back a step to allow her to open the door and go in while he let out a really big sigh and tried to smooth his hair back into place. But his magnetic hands had reemerged in the stairwell and suddenly they were at her door and he was touching the outsides of her arms with just his fingertips and kissing her spine through her dress while she fumbled for the lock.

They managed to make it inside and over to the kitchen island, where he was leaning now and fumbling with the string at the side of her outfit. She bit his lower lip and kissed it, then whispered softly "Um, Danny?"

"Mm?"

"I have on my scrubs underwear. I just remembered."

He looked at her with a wild expression, like she had implied something scandalous- which was a difficult look to pull off for a guy whose erection was jutting into her hip. "They... make those?"

"What? Ew, no- I mean the janky cotton underwear that I wear under my scrubs, I didn't change out of it when-"

He reclaimed her lips in mid sentence and slid one hand up under the back of her dress again. Laughing against his mouth, she pulled back and extracted herself from his hands, like pushing off a tight ball gown at the end of the night.

She held his gaze and started to move backwards in the direction of her closet. "Stay."

Which, of course he didn't do. She discovered this as she heard the door of her closet creak open slightly and whipped around to find him there, having rid himself of his jacket and shoes. Her magenta underwear sat on the floor at her feet. His nostrils flared slightly as they stood watching each other for a few seconds. He reached up slowly and turned off the light. The outline of his silhouette in the doorway was all she could see now.

With as little sound as possible, she started to pull at the ties of her dress. But he must have heard her. In seconds he was all around her, pinning her up against the back wall of her closet. Distracted by the feeling of his hands pushing her dress apart and trailing his fingertips along her midsection, it took her a moment to realize that they were standing in a pile of shoes. Good shoes.

"Mmph, Danny!" she yelled as she raised one foot and tapped his shin.

He kicked a few out from under them, then drew back and scooped up a handful and threw them over his shoulder. He was out of breath and panting when he leaned back into her and whispered, "I'll buy you new ones."

His words or the feeling of his fingers pulling the rest of her dress and the straps of her bra off of her shoulders made her giggle a little as her hands fumbled down for his belt. He reached down to help her and she moved to the buttons of his shirt, their movements slowed as somehow the intensity of the moment hit them all at once. By the time she reached the button just under his navel and pushed his shirt off of his shoulders, they were moving like Ariel's hair in The Little Mermaid- limbs and lips soft and floating against each other.

The streetlight falling in from the tiny window behind her head was enough for her to just barely make out the features of Danny's face now that her eyes had adjusted. He stopped kissing her and looked back into her eyes suddenly, feeling her focus there. His thumbs were brushing back and forth slowly, just under her bare breasts. She saw everything that had happened during this very long day, and also all the days before that one- before she knew that this was where they were going. Her lips curl up at the corners slightly as her finger curls into the edge of his boxer briefs, tugging it down just enough to expose him.

Their mouths crush together violently and her other hand slips into and around the boxers, pushing them over and off his butt and he grabs her right knee and pulls it over his hip. This exposes them both to a feeling so intense, they each suck in a breath against the other's mouth. Danny moans a little and grips both of her hips as Mindy tries to grab the head of his dick and circle her thumb over it. She feels him twitch violently in her hand and his hips jerk forward as he braces her against the wall and quickly pulls her hand away.

She can feel him pulsing up against her as he whispers hollowly against her ear "Min, I need this to be it. I need this to work."

She feels tears spring into her eyes and nods. Finally she finds her voice and whispers "Yeah. Okay." She kisses him lightly on his earlobe like it's a promise. And they are wrapped around each other buck-naked and he adjusts his hips and pushes into her so slowly, like he's memorizing the feeling. She is stretched out and exposed and so overwhelmingly happy with him inside her in that moment. And they stay like that for a short time, before she gyrates her hips and elicits a growl from him as he starts moving inside her and kissing her face and neck like he's tasting her skin.

They are rocking against each other and grabbing at all the places that they were never allowed to touch before. And when Mindy comes, she sucks at the flesh of his shoulder and can feel how hard he is at the sound of her whimper. And when he pulls back and thrusts into for the last time he says her name low and desperate and his face is the most beautiful, sad thing she's ever seen. His eyes flutter shut and she places a kiss on each of his eyelids.

As they wrap their arms around one another and fall a little sideways into some of the clothes hanging next to them, Mindy makes a promise to herself.

She was going to be really good at loving Danny.


	9. Yellow

9. Yellow

When he woke up in her bed that morning, Danny literally could not believe his life. He had reached out at the one thing he was most afraid to want and she was curled up beside him in sheets that smelled like tangerines and sunshine.

He pulled his arm around her head and leaned into her shoulder, letting his lips press there at the soft flesh between her breast and her arm. The warmth of her skin drew him in and he left his face pressed there for a long moment, thinking of all the ways he had tried to screw this up. All the warmth and openness that had so intimidated and infuriated him once- it was spread out across the bed in front of him because he had finally managed not to run away from his feelings. For her. This book that had been sitting on his shelf, he had finally given himself permission to read it whenever he wanted and dog-ear all the pages.

Danny let out a sigh of relief and sleep and utter happiness and raised his head slowly, looking at her face covered in bright yellow sunlight. Mindy looked reckless and lovely. This was the impression of her that he would hold in his heart from now on. It wanted to get complicated, but he would make it simple- this thing between them. He could screw this up any number of ways, but if he could keep the image of this happiness he was responsible for in just a day- straight ahead in his sights... this could work.

"Mindy. Hey, wake up" he whispered this into her ear as he slid his hand under the sheet and across her stomach.

Mindy's eyebrow twitched and she grimaced slightly. "Hey." He shook her slightly.

"What?" her eyes were still closed, but her could see her breathing quicken slightly.

"I'm gonna go get food. What do you want?" he took the opportunity to move his hand down to her hip and grasp the flesh in his flat hand, thinking of how good it felt the first time he touched it. It was like an itch that he had barely been ignoring, this need to put his hands on her. And she had let him finally scratch it.

"Mmm, no, I don't think so." She opened her eyes just a crack, looking up at him. Her mouth twitched in a smile. They stopped then. Stopped breathing, stopped talking, stopped thinking. For just that moment they held their breath and looked into each other's eyes. Impossible. That he should be in her bed. He knew this.

"No? To food?" his eyebrows shot up and he grinned and knew where this was going. "Is this one of those things where you go to bed with one woman and wake up with another?"

Mindy made a face. "I wish. As it stands, it looks like I'm kinda stuck with the guy I went home with, huh?"

"Hmm." He kissed her full on the mouth. "You don't have to be stuck with me, you know." He shrugged, but pulled her tighter into his embrace and brushing a thumb over her right nipple. "I could just leave."

Mindy looked away from him and rolled her eyes. "That was kind of an empty offer, considering the circumstances." She rubbed her hip against dick, which wasn't going anywhere, apparently. He groaned and started to brush his lips just under her earlobe.

"That guy... is irrelevant to the current conversation." At this, his thumb started its sweeping motion over her ribs, just under her breast.

"If I were you, I would not be so dismissive of your friend there. I'll have you know that he played a very important role in the fact that you woke up here this morning. I'm not sure you would have made the cut on your own merits." She was staring off to the side and doing that arched-brow, schoolteacher look that he could never resist screwing with.

He stopped abruptly and lifted his face away from her a few inches. "Oh, really? That's interesting to note." His right hand trailed just a finger down and over her belly button. "There's nothing else to recommend me? My mind perhaps?" At this he brushed his knuckles over the soft spot between her legs and was rewarded with the sight of Mindy biting her lip. Then she laughed. Like, a full on, eyes crushed shut cackle as her hips bucked up against his hand.

She turned to bury her face in the pillow as he continued barely touching her. "God, you're such a jerk."

He said with his mock-indignant voice "_I_'m just trying to be clear on the present situation, here." On the last word, one finger dipped imperceptibly lower. "I wouldn't want to be where I'm not wanted."

For a moment there was a stalemate, his finger hesitating on the area in question and Mindy refusing to look at him as a pink flush crept over her face. It was quickly becoming his favorite color.

Quietly she whispered into the pillow, "You... have some other good qualities, too."

This earned her the attention she was seeking, and he brushed his flat thumb over her. He watched her face soften and he leaned over to kiss her cheek, and was a little surprised when she turned her head and deepened the kiss immediately. The warmth that spread out in his chest distracted him from the increase in the tiny moans being emitted from her throat as he cradled her jaw and focused on dipping his tongue into just the edges of her lips in tandem with his other attentions.

"Mmmph! Danny!" she squeaked out against his mouth as he pulled back. "This isn't working."

He felt the blood run out of his face a little bit. "Oh."

"What? Oh, no dumbass." She giggled as she pushed his hand away and slid her knee under his hip. "I just thought your friend might need to join the party." As she said this she tilted her hips up to tease him slightly, making him aware of the sizable problem he had been pressing into her hip.

He didn't move for a second and she looked at him weirdly. "Oh." The tone had shifted and the hand that reached up to cover her left breast was gentler than even he had known it could be. He dug deep and forced himself to say the thing he wanted most to not say right now; "I have been a dumbass." He made himself look into her eyes then, and trailed kisses over her neck as he entered her, licking and listening to the sounds she made as he moved inside her.

The feeling of holding her in his arms as she writhed underneath him was the scariest, happiest feeling he had ever known. And as she came and moaned out his name, pulling at his hair, he let himself go completely inside her, holding back nothing and burying his face into her chest.

They stayed that way for a long time, holding one another and thinking of how impossible it was how that they were in this place.


	10. Fever

Sweaty Danny is my favorite trope right now, and I thought it would be fun to write something dedicated purely to that. Because we all know this guy's a complete freak for Mindy's body, am I right?

10. Fever

Danny was a sweaty guy. Like, really, seriously sweaty.

It had taken Mindy a couple of nights to adjust to this special... circumstance. Not that it was a chore- dude was crazy enthusiastic to make up for it. And also, it wasn't like there was anything to make up for in general, but if she had any hesitation about trying something to improve the situation he was more than happy to oblige. And that was how they came to have a large fan on his night table.

They had gone shopping together for it over in Williamsburg that morning, where she was sure that they would come across one made of reclaimed barn wood or something. Close. Danny's face lit up at this fugly dark pewter fan made from old refrigerator parts.

"Now- this! This is amazing! Tell me more about the wiring in the oscillating mechanism." The looks of glee on his face and precluded any discussion about its aesthetic value in his apartment.

Which was fine, he had branched out a lot from his Spartan ways since they had gotten together and he confessed that he liked staying at her place because he felt at home. Lately, she had been helpless to do more than laugh and kiss him on the mouth for his bad taste. It was something she had grown to love about him. He was like a little boy filling out his life with cartoon 'man' props.

This one was mostly for her, she supposed, so she had insisted on paying the goateed dude whose creations were somewhere between 'art', appliance, and 'garbage'. He seemed stoked to be unloading a fan in late September.

She didn't share her opinion with Danny, though. He just looked so happy carrying that hideous thing around the open-air market as they grabbed an ice cream and she sifted through a few vintage booths. Besides, she had already talked him out of buying that two-thousand-dollar airplane wing desk from Restoration Hardware last week. She kind of owed him one. But she had to believe that he could feel some weirdness from the looks they got on the subway back to his place, which made her feel a tiny bit validated.

Then somehow on the way up to his apartment her affection for Danny's new toy grew. Like the new sheets made of that athletic gortex material she gave him last week, or the crotchless panties (which he had scoffed at but then didn't seem to mind so much the additional friction they provided), she found herself viscerally excited about this latest experiment.

"Hey- uh, I'm gonna use the bathroom real quick... I'll meet you in the bedroom in a sec?" she watched his face as he turned the key in the lock and couldn't help but smile as she saw his ears lift a little, glancing back at her to verify the implications of her statement. God, his puppy-dog face did stupid things to her nether regions.

Danny managed to croak out a breathless "Yeah, okay." as he swung the door as wide as his smile and let her in.

Mindy walked in an arch over to the right, heading straight for the bedroom and sweeping her pink and green argyle sweater up and over her head. She felt her skin flush as she did so; she could always feel when his eyes were on her. She left the bathroom door open a crack as she stripped down to her underwear and turned to inspect herself in the mirror. She could hear Danny practically knocking things off of the nightstand to plug in the fan. The noise of his wooden-slat blinds slapping closed made her nipples go hard. They were surprisingly on the same page about a lot of things.

She felt her heart thumping in her chest in anticipation and forced herself to slowly brush out her hair for a minute, listening for any sounds in the next room. The buzz of the fan in the background was all she could make out, and then she saw the reflection of the door swinging open behind her. Danny stepped into view, leaning against the doorframe and even mostly blocked by the door she could see that he was naked. She still pretended to be annoyed by him watching her get ready for things, but it was half-hearted now. They both knew that she liked being watched as much as he liked watching. He stood there for a moment before she met his eyes in the mirror and saw the all-too-familiar darkness there.

"Sorry, am I invading your privacy?" he purred out as a wicked smile spread across his face. She felt the corners of her mouth twitch even as she said curtly "Yes, actually. You're being very rude." She arched her back in a cruel way, angling her butt towards him and continuing to brush slow strokes through her hair.

Behind her she heard the low chuckle that he reserved for her moments of pure bluffing. Almost nothing she did was unintentionally teasing these days, but a lady has to keep up the pretense. They each stood their ground for a second before Danny swept forward grabbing her elbow and the hairbrush, which he quickly set down on the counter. He stood behind her and stared over her shoulder into her eyes in the mirror. She felt him lean into her backside slightly as he swept her hair off to one side and placed a kiss at the base of her neck- one of the slow, mushy kisses that her entire body had come to recognize. He had this way of placing his lips on her skin reverently, like she was made of marble.

He wrapped one arm around her waist and grabbed at the flesh of her hip to spin her into his embrace, catching her lips in his as she turned. They were at expert-level in terms of making out, in a way that almost frustrated Mindy. She liked playing coy with other guys, but something about the way he deepened their kisses gradually had the tendency to make her moan into his mouth and give herself away. Not to mention the trembling habit she had developed when he was clearly teasing her. Like now, as she squeaked low in her throat and felt him smiling against her mouth. She thought briefly of how he was such a smug bastard sometimes, until his tongue swirled around the inside edge of her lips and her body tilted forward into his despite herself, causing an intense sensation through the lace of her bra.

They broke apart and for a second touched noses as they listened to the feral pants echoing from each other. He grazed his teeth across her collarbone and she felt his hands at her waist slide almost imperceptibly downwards. Her arms flew up around his neck as she recaptured his lips. Their stomachs brushed against one another and she thought again how improbable all of this was. How real and steady things had been since they gave into this, whatever this was.

Her head was spinning in a giddy way at that thought as he began to dance her backwards into the bedroom, pulling her tight against his torso as he did so. "Jesus, Min." was all he could mumble out against her lips as she let her hand slip down over his shoulder and grabbed at one of his pecs, purposely scraping her thumbnail over his nipple. She opened her eyes to take in his furrowed brow. Giggling despite herself, she let him push her backwards onto the bed. She felt goose bumps cover her skin as a sharp breeze blew across them. Danny was doing some serious necking as he lowered the weight of himself onto her body spread sideways on the bed, and she could feel hardness, at the apex of her legs. She also felt her body respond with a tight wet shudder there that he was evidently so good at unraveling. She let out an embarrassingly high-pitched moan at the memory of just how awkward and amazing he had been those first few times they screwed around, and reached down to grab his butt and grind herself further into his erection. He was already sweating.

"Danny," she whispered against his ear as his head moved down to lick at her breast through the black lace of her bra "-fuck, mmh, how is it that you never had a fan in here before?" She felt his fingers hook into the sides of her underwear and pull them downwards in that slow way that he likes to do anything involving stripping her body of clothing. It gave her the unique sensation of being a treasure, something he had longed for and held separate from the raw sexual acts they committed later on. And also made her breathing really shallow. Danny was crazy good in bed, in an intense way that continued to surprise her. Not that she would ever admit it to him. Though, she had a feeling that her screams had been giving it away to the neighbors a bit.

"What do you mean?" he mumbled from between her breasts, placing those flat warm kisses that sent a shiver down her spine.

"I mean, how did it not occur to you to buy one before? You almost slid right off of me last night." Mindy smiled again at the memory and bit playfully at his shoulder.

Danny pulled back to lean on his elbows and froze there, his face only an inch away from hers. His eyes glittered dangerously, staring down at her. It was one of those expressions that made her squirm and lift her right leg up and over his left. He twitched sharply against her stomach as he reached behind her to unhook her bra. She let him slip the straps down her arms, trying not to be impatient as his fingers tickled the hairs there along the way. He was ignoring the question.

"Danny!" His hips rocked against her slowly, mischievously. He nuzzled his face into the hair spread out over her shoulder and let out a hot breath. "It's never been a problem before." As she pulled her face back slightly, he wouldn't look directly at her. "I don't usually get this... excited." She heard the words mumbled against her neck and let them hang there in the air, while her mind flashed back through all the times before they were a thing that she noticed him breaking out in a sweat during one of their epic, heated debates. His heart was beating hard against her own and she felt her eyes welling up with tears as she ran her hand across the sweaty skin of his back and felt him shiver against her. God, she was such a girl sometimes.

They rolled over together and she locked her legs on either side of his hips and gyrated just the tip of him inside of her. She tried not to be embarrassed at the sob that he wracked out of her as he thrust upwards for the first time, pushing in his length. But she sees his face go bright red at the sound of it and knows the difference in how she reacted is not lost on him. He cups her ass as she starts to move against him slowly, reveling in the feel of his huge hands pinching into her, spurring her to grind harder against him with each thrust. They start to move together frantically, as the fan brushes back and forth across their bodies and she watches his lidded gaze linger over every part of her. He curses under his breath, and a little out loud as he kisses her breast and pulls softly at the hair drifting across her back.

She felt the tight pulse of the orgasm building right before he moved one hand to brush against her center, something he always seemed to time just right, and she can't stop herself from moaning out his name a few times as his thumb moves in circles over her. As she presses her hands against his shoulders and starts to shake with each thrust against him, Mindy feels an overwhelming sense of pride at the deep growl he lets loose when he comes.

She cries out just once in response, too caught up in the feeling of his pelvis sliding over her sex, and then collapses onto his chest. There she presses her cheek into him and catches her breath, and then stretches out her tongue to lick a stroke upwards, tasting the salt of him and earning her one last twitch deep inside.

God, she loves her sweaty boyfriend.


	11. My Life Would Suck Without You

Hey, guys, hey! TMP is still rockin' my socks, but as a writer it's tricky to find footing with the impending Christina drama. I hate writing OOC stuff when I know better, so I'm holding off on a couple of ideas... but I've been missing Danny/Mindy bickering, soooo * throws candy * have at it!

You guys are awesome reviewers; I appreciate every word, especially from other authors. I very much value the time you guys take! 3 3

I think this summer is going to be an absolute free-for-all of fic, post-finale. Can't wait!

11. My Life Would Suck Without You

As he stood in front of his open refrigerator, gathering the ingredients of a sandwich, he heard a quiet knock at the door. He sets everything onto the counter and smirks, before shaking his expression into a stern frown.

Danny pads over in his bare feet to turn the lock and crack the door open, just wide enough to confirm his suspected visitor. He takes a deep breath and leans his forearm against the doorframe and settles in.

"What are you doing here?"

Mindy narrows her eyes and then gives him a small fake smile, replying sweetly "Aren't you going to let me in?" She was wearing yoga pants and a puffy vest and her hair was in one of those sloppy buns he never sees outside of her apartment.

He was not giving in that easily. "We- or rather, you mostly- just spent two hours at your apartment discussing the fact that I needed to be here tonight and you needed to be there. So, no- I'm not so sure that letting you in would be... productive."

Mindy stares back at him while slowly raising an eyebrow that said clearly 'how dare you throw that in my face'. She glances behind him into the apartment and says "Are you seriously listening to him again?! God- buy some new cds!"

"I have the boxed set."

"By someone _other than_ 'The Boss', Danny!" She leans in at the last part, whispering conspiratorially, "If you are in love with him, you should just tell me- I'll even help you pack and apply for a job as a horse doctor on his ranch." while slyly edging her foot in the doorway.

"Oh, wow... that would be amazing." He smiles and stares over her head like he's thinking about it now and resists his usual impulse to reach out and touch her arm, like he always seems to find himself doing when they are this close. "But, for the record, this is Billy Joel, not Bruce." This earns him an eye roll. He slides one foot behind the door, bracing it in anticipation of a sneak attack.

She watches him do it and he can practically see her decide to get really pissed off at this. "Are you SERIOUSLY making me beg to come into my boyfriend's apartment?!"

"Okay, FIRST OF ALL, you were the one who said that we should 'take a night off'- which, as I'm sure you will recall, I WAS AGAINST- so I don't think that it would be _out of line_ for me to ask what's going on here."

"What's '_going on here_' DANNY is that your girlfriend is standing in your doorway being HUMILIATED in front of all of your PRETENTIOUS neighbors!" Her voice had steadily risen and Danny lost his nerve and grabbed her by the elbow, pulling her inside while ducking his head out into the hallway quickly before slamming the door shut.

They stood there with his hand locked on her elbow for a second, staring at one another. Nothing had changed since they had spoken earlier. He let go slowly and turned to round the counter, resuming his sandwich prep in silence. Mindy stalked over to the couch quietly and plopped down, her back to him. He fought off the settled feeling of being in for the night with Mindy and instead slapped some mustard on the rye bread with extra hostility. They stayed that way, actively not speaking. He could tell from her posture that her arms were crossed, and it irked him slightly that his view of her eyes was blocked by the arm of her glasses. He cursed at himself as he hesitated and then reached in the bag for two more slices of bread.

He finished assembling everything and walked over to the couch. He stood there for a moment directly behind her, finally lowering a plate in front of her face.

"I've already eaten, thank you."

"MINDY!"

"WHAT?!"

"Would you take the DAMN sandwich?"

She reaches up slowly, and sets the plate in her lap without turning her head. He shuffles once, wanting to turn around and sit at the counter to spite her. Instead, he walks to the opposite side of the couch to sit down, and bites into his sandwich. He could see her pull a piece of chicken out of the sandwich and chew it slowly, staring at his blank television. As she swallowed, she reached down and lifted half of the sandwich to her mouth, biting into it. She threw the sandwich down onto the plate and plucked out a floppy pickle slice, holding it up in the space between them.

"Are you kidding me with this?" she was looking at him now, but he refused to turn his head as he chewed.

"What."

"Real mature, Danny."

"What, this is _my_ apartment and in 'my apartment,' as you have referred to it so many times over the evening, sandwiches come with pickles ON the sandwich." He turns to look at her as he chews and continues, "This isn't an all-night deli."

They sit staring at one another as he chews, the pickle still hovering in the air, until Mindy whispers, "This is the stupidest, most passive-aggressive bullshit I have ever seen in my life, Danny."

He reaches out and takes the offending morsel from her, popping it into his mouth and chewing slowly. She turns away from him again and lets her hand drop to the couch. He resumes eating, without any real satisfaction.

At that moment, the track changes on the cd. The first few notes of the song tick through the air and the tension in the room melts. He sets his sandwich down on the plate in his lap and lets his hands fall to his sides, looking over at the piano.

They both were having the same memory now; one of the night that he had played it for her while they sat on the piano bench only a few feet away from them now. As Billy sings out the first few words of "She's Always A Woman To Me" they are each staring off in different directions. Mindy feels the same bubble of pride she had felt that night. He had taught himself the song as a surprise for her. Or, sort of a surprise. She had suspected something was up the third time she entered his office without knocking and he leapt up from the keyboard to block her view of the sheet music.

Danny usually had to be coaxed into playing, even when it was just the two of them. So, that night, when he had taken her by the hand and led her to the piano, she felt the presence of the intimate tendril that he unfurled when they were alone together and his guard was down.

She made herself stay very still as he did his best and fumbled over the notes only once, singing quietly along in that mumble-y way he always did, even though he knew all the words by heart.

Now, Danny leaned forward and set his plate on the table in front of them. He walked toward the piano, shutting off the stereo along the way, and flipped up the lid of the keyboard. As he propped one knee up on the bench, his right hand came to rest on the keys and he played the beginning of the song quietly, as if it were just to himself. And this was all really, really annoying because she was not finished being mad at him.

She sat listening to him tinker around with the melody for a minute, before setting her plate next to his on the table and shedding her vest. She let it fall to the floor and untied both of her sneakers, tossing them over towards the entryway.

While she did this, he said nothing and continued to play the notes of the song as they came to him. She looked over at him and propped her feet up on the coffee table, crossing her arms in front of her again and leaning back against the couch.

From the piano, she heard him softly start singing, "_And she'll bring out the best, And the worst you can be... Blame it all on yourself, Cause_-"

"Danny, I need a drawer." At the sound of her voice he abruptly stops playing and then slowly shuts the piano cover.

"I've been late to work three times because I keep having to run back to my apartment for half an outfit when I stay over here. My wardrobe has been migrating to my office and yesterday I still had to layer a red cable-knit work sweater over a green dress because it was cold out. I looked color-blind."

At this, Danny slid his knee off the bench and walked slowly over to the couch, only stopping when his legs gently bumped into hers. He's looking down at her now, but she looks straight ahead.

"I try to shove things into a giant purse, but I always forget something and I need a drawer and I didn't want to ask because I didn't want you to get weird. After the thing about my shower stuff."

He stands there next to where she is sitting and is very, very quiet. "Is that what this was?" he says finally, and she can't tell his feeling from his inflection. When she doesn't respond, he reaches down and gently shakes her arm until she looks up at him.

She shrugs and nods once, then goes back to watching the nothing of his television.

"Come here."

He grabs her vest off of the floor while she stands up reluctantly, and then slides behind her to guide her towards the bedroom. She reluctantly leads until they come to a stop in front of his dresser. Danny reaches around in front of her and slides open the top right drawer.

Inside it are a strange variety of Mindy's clothes, neatly folded. On top is a black silk shirt with white stars that had been missing for weeks now. Behind her, she can hear him fold the swishy fabric of her puffy vest and sees him carefully place it on top of one of the piles. She reaches in and touches the fabric of it, like she's thinking.

After a moment, she says quietly "We... suck at this."

"What do you mean, 'we'?"

"Well, I mean, this only counts as a nice gesture if you _tell_ me about it, Danny. When were you planning on telling me about this- by the way?"

She turned towards Danny then, as he lets a hand come to rest at her back, tugging her forward slightly. "I... wasn't really. I mean, half of my good copper pans are over at your place and I guess I figured we would get around to all of the sharing stuff eventually."

"Eventually? What does that even mean-"

"I gave you a drawer! Huh? Don't I get a little credit for that?" He smiles like he feels a truce coming on.

"Thank you... Danny. Yes, deserve some credit for that."

Danny sighs and quietly says "Yeah... I'm not so sure about that. The shampoo thing, I just overreacted. I guess the drawer was more of an apology than anything." and at this, she smiles. "We can toss them back on the floor? If that helps you feel at home? And- for the record- much like your eleven brands of shampoo, I have to believe that if you never once noticed that any of these items were missing, you have a few _too many clothes_, Mindy."

She swallows a little and says quietly back "That's not true, I was missing all of these. I would have used this skirt yesterday... if my boyfriend weren't such a klepto." Her chin tilts defiantly as Mindy says "And ONCE MORE, four of those were conditioner and one was a body wash that I _believe_ you used, so..."

At this he leans forward and kisses her cheek. In her ear he says "No more breaks, or nights off, or whatever. We'll get better at this, I promise."

She smiles and then stares down into the drawer for a minute before exclaiming- "Oh, my gosh, yes- my Stella McCartney dress!"

Danny chuckles and taps her lightly on the ass. He lets go of her waist and heads for the living room and Mindy looks up to say "Hey- Danny?"

He pauses in the doorway and flashes her a huge grin. "Yup, on it- de-pickling in progress."

By the weekend, half of Danny's closet is packed with Mindy's bare necessities and the shampoos have mysteriously multiplied.


End file.
